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Winemaker's Notes:

Big flavors of mixed warm berries black cherries round tannins mulling spices and a touch of pepper and toasty vanilla. A comforting sipper on its own this fantastic classic also pairs wonderfully with smokey barbecue burgers pizza or hearty pasta. For added softness and aromatics stash a few bottles in a cool cellar for 5-8 years.

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The Biale family, immigrants from Northern Italy, began growing grapes in Napa in the 1930’s – Zinfandel only. Zinfandel, California’s adopted grape, was widely planted by immigrants throughout the State’s history as a highly flavorful red grape well-suited for the climate. Each harvest, the Biale’s fruit was routinely sold for bulk wine. For decades before the global demand for Napa Valley win... Read more

The Biale family, immigrants from Northern Italy, began growing grapes in Napa in the 1930’s – Zinfandel only. Zinfandel, California’s adopted grape, was widely planted by immigrants throughout the State’s history as a highly flavorful red grape well-suited for the climate. Each harvest, the Biale’s fruit was routinely sold for bulk wine. For decades before the global demand for Napa Valley wine, one winery, the Napa Valley Co-Op winery, processed almost half of Napa’s grapes. Before big companies moved in, most of Napa’s fruit was grown by local farmers like the Biales. In fact, prunes and walnuts were as valuable as grapes in those days, and the Biale farm produced its share along with eggs and vegetables.
Committed to the tradition of farming grapes, the Biales decided in 1991 to form a partnership with the goal of producing a world-class wine from the oldest Zinfandel vines on the ranch. The team: Al Perry, winemaking; Dave Pramuk, Marketing; Aldo and Bob Biale farming. The wine, named after longtime farmer Aldo Biale, was called “Aldo’s Vineyard”.
The inaugural wine was a quantity of 400 cases produced from about 8 acres of 60-year-old vines. Now, twelve years later, Biale is recognized internationally as being among California’s very finest producers of Zinfandel.
Today, a family of wines of distinctly different personalities is produced, with the goal of capturing the ultimate expressions of their sites. Each wine is vineyard designated only in years when it is outstanding. Wines not grown on the Biale ranch are from grapes grown through farming contracts with small independent growers in Napa, Sonoma, Lodi and Contra Costa. In several cases, vineyards are parcels adjacent to the owner’s home. This involves the Biale/Perry tandem going beyond the normal “tons per acre” agreements to the extent of specifying farming techniques on each site and working personally with the growers to do the careful handwork necessary to ensure uniformly ripe and mature bunches of grapes. Good wines are made but great wines are grown.
Biale’s richness, refinement, elegance and balance make the wines a memorable experience with a diverse range of food. And while the wines will age gracefully, Zinfandel is one of the best wines for drinking young. Read less

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The 2004 Zinfandel Black Chicken (the Prohibition era's code word for bootleg wine) tips the scales at 16.5% alcohol. This chicken can party... as evidenced by the wine's blockbuster perfume of briery fruit, spice box, pepper, sweet currants and cherries, and licorice. Spicy, with fabulous fruit, a full-bodied opulence, loads of glycerin, and a heady finish, it can be drunk now and over the next 5-7 years.

Ruby-red. Superripe aromas of raspberry liqueur, smoked meat, spices, espresso and flowers; slightly roasted suggestion of late-picked fruit. Rich, chewy and high-toned, with a sappy quality and plenty of acidity to the intense raspberry liqueur flavor. Obviously high in alcohol, but creamy, concentrated and quite long. Strong tannins are buffered by sheer sweetness of fruit. Fans of big, bold zinfandels will not feel cheated by this one.

Speaking of the 2008 Zinfandel Black Chicken, it has a beautiful nose of sweet, jammy black cherries and raspberries, a dark ruby/purple-tinged color, and an expansive, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel as well as lots of heady glycerin. This full-throttle, lusty, delicious, silky-textured wine cascades over the palate with no hard edges. It should be drunk over the next 3-4 years.

Big flavors of mixed warm berries black cherries round tannins mulling spices and a touch of pepper and toasty vanilla. A comforting sipper on its own this fantastic classic also pairs wonderfully with smokey barbecue burgers pizza or hearty pasta. For added softness and aromatics stash a few bottles in a cool cellar for 5-8 years.